Las Vegas is constantly evolving: hotels and casinos are built and torn down, money flows in and out, tourists and residents come and go. The names of local resorts are no different. They have transformed over the years, too.

Mike Mixer predicts that upwards of $1.5 billion will be invested in the Las Vegas gaming market over the next two years. Mixer is the head of a new national gaming group established last summer by commercial real estate brokerage Colliers International.

Jason Tenner, decked out in eyeliner and glitter, sat in his Mercedes and smiled as he watched a man in a Zorro costume cross the street in front of him. Both men were dressed for work. Zorro, in a cape and tights, spent the night posing with tourists on Fremont Street. Tenner, in a black wig and purple trench coat, spent it onstage singing “Little Red Corvette” and “1999.” Tenner, 37, performs four nights a week as Prince in the “Purple Reign” tribute show at the D Las Vegas.

For eight hours Beverly Hoffrichter, a cocktail waitress at the D, was picketing outside the property with her fellow Culinary Union workers as part of a massive protest outside all nine downtown casinos Saturday. Hundreds came and went in shifts during the protest, but not Hoffrichter. She stayed.

Just as people from Hawaii view the California casino as "the ninth island," Derek Stevens wants people in Detroit to look at the D in downtown Las Vegas like a second home. He is advertising throughout the Great Lakes region, has brought a beloved Detroit eatery to his Fremont Street casino and even the name "the D" is a nickname among Detroit residents for their city.

The family that lays claim to inventing the Coney dog will open its first stand outside of Detroit in downtown Las Vegas. American Coney Island, whose founder Constantine “Gust” Keros first ladled chili on a hot dog in 1917, will open its new restaurant Oct. 10 at the D Las Vegas casino.